#FreeTalks with James McAvoy!

You never know what opportunities will spring up here in New York City, and when I was told that James McAvoy was giving a free talk at Lincoln Center about one of his latest films (no, not Xmen: Days of Future Past) but a lesser known film called Filth, I said, “hell yeah!”

McAvoy has been a favorite of mine since seeing him emotionally bare his soul in the romantic drama, Atonement (2007). Now, as the fangirling middle-aged ladies (no hate here, I promise) behind me in line for the event can attest, there is so much more that he is known for that I’ve yet to see, but what I have had the opportunity to view, I’ve greatly enjoyed.

When James (yeah, I’m on a first-name basis with him) first entered the small auditorium with all the swag of a Scotsman, my heart jumped in my chest just a little. Hey, I’ll proudly admit to getting slightly starstruck on occasion.

Who wouldn’t get starstruck with that smile?

In Filth, he plays a troubled and mentally unstable Edinburgh cop named Bruce. McAvoy claims to have felt sympathy for his character, but also states that he would not want to be associated with Bruce in real life.

I’ve yet to see the film myself, but it was so awesome to be able to receive an inside look into the movie-making process. From some of the not-so-great moments, like when production was paused on Filth due to lack of funds, to pranks pulled on the X-men set (he did mention X-men a bit hehe), he answered each question with humor and ease.

Members of the audience were even given the opportunity to ask him questions and while many hands shot up when the mic was being passed around I sat in my seat wishing I had the nerve to ask him “whether he preferred working on smaller indie films like Filth or big blockbusters like X-men.” :sigh: Maybe one day. He even asked some audience members, “Have we met before?” in which one shocked woman replied, “Yes! About 5 years ago.” Talk about a good memory! When McAvoy asked a guy the same question, the guy replied with a, “Maybe.” How could he not have remembered meeting him before?! But I digress…

Anyhow, the final and most hilarious question was whether he or the director felt uncomfortable with his nudity in Filth. McAvoy actually stated that the nudity was his idea (god bless his soul) because he wanted the vulnerability of his character Bruce to be shown. Gotta love a guy willing to bare it all.

He seems like a great, everyday kind of guy who just so happens to have a career in which his face is plastered on the side of every bus. You can feel that he enjoys what he does and definitely takes great pride in his work. I hope that seeing other people I admire in person will be just an enjoyable.

Filth is available on Demand and on iTunes and X-Men: Days of Future Past is in theaters now.